PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST THROUGH MEDIA OWNERSHIP LIMITS: A CRITIQUE OF THE FCC'S DRAFT ORDER BASED ON RIGOROUS MARKET STRUCTURE ANALYSIS ...
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PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST
THROUGH MEDIA OWNERSHIP LIMITS:
A CRITIQUE OF THE FCC’S DRAFT ORDER
BASED ON RIGOROUS MARKET STRUCTURE ANALYSIS AND
FIRST AMENDMENT PRINCIPLES
DR. MARK N. COOPER
DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA
May 2003TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ___________________________________________________ 1
I. LEGAL AND ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK____________________________________ 8
THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTS LIMITS ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP __________________________ 8
THE COURTS SUPPORT CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARDS TO
PROMOTE DIVERSITY IN MEDIA MARKETS; THEY WANT COHERENT POLICY ANALYSIS ___ 9
A HIGH STANDARD IS NECESSARY TO SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST _________________ 11
PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST THROUGH UNCONCENTRATED MEDIA MARKETS ____ 13
III. RIGOROUS ANALYSIS OF MEDIA MARKETS ____________________________ 15
MARKET STRUCTURE ANALYSIS MUST RECOGNIZE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEDIA IN
FUNCTION, REACH, IMPACT AND AUDIENCE ____________________________________ 15
TELEVISION AND NEWSPAPERS SHOULD BE THE FOCAL POINT OF ANALYSIS __________ 15
THE ANALYSIS OF NEWS AND INFORMATION, AS OPPOSED TO ENTERTAINMENT OR AD
MARKETS, SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY BASIS OF MARKET STRUCTURE ANALYSIS. ______ 15
CABLE, SATELLITE AND THE INTERNET PROVIDE LITTLE, IF ANY, LOCAL NEWS AND
INFORMATION ___________________________________________________________ 19
MEDIA MARKETS ARE ALREADY CONCENTRATED _______________________________ 22
IV. PROPOSED FCC RULES HAVE NO ANALYTIC OR LEGAL BASIS ___________ 22
FLAWS IN THE FCC RULES _________________________________________________ 22
THE FCC PROPOSAL GUTS THE PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARD FOR MEDIA OWNERSHIP
UNDER THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT. _________________________________________ 27
V. A RESPONSIBLE APPROACH TO OWNERSHIP LIMITS_____________________ 34
COUNTING VOICES IN A TOTAL MEDIA MARKET __________________________________ 37
REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS TO COUNTING OF VOICES_____________________________ 38
ESTABLISHING THRESHOLDS AND MARKET SCREENS ______________________________ 40
CONCLUSION ____________________________________________________________ 44
ENDNOTES ______________________________________________________________ 45
iLIST OF EXHIBITS
EXHIBIT 1: TV AND NEWSPAPERS ARE THE PUBLIC’S MOST IMPORTANT
SOURCE OF ALL NEWS .........................................................................................................16
EXHIBIT 2: TV AND NEWSPAPERS DOMINATE AS LOCAL NEWS SOURCES...........................17
EXHIBIT 3: COMPARING NEWS CAPABILITIES: NEWSPAPERS PRODUCE THE BULK OF
LOCAL NEWS .......................................................................................................................18
EXHIBIT 4: FEW CABLE VIEWERS GET THEIR LOCAL NEWS FROM LOCAL CABLE
CHANNELS ...........................................................................................................................20
EXHIBIT 5: MOST INTERNET USERS VISIT WEB SITES OF THE MAJOR TV NEWS
OUTLETS AND NEWSPAPERS ................................................................................................21
EXHIBIT 6: BROADCAST TV VOICE COUNT .........................................................................23
EXHIBIT 7: NEWSPAPER VOICE COUNT ...............................................................................24
EXHIBIT 8: RADIO VOICE COUNT ........................................................................................25
EXHIBIT 9: CONCENTRATION OF NATIONAL PROGRAMMING MARKETS .............................26
EXHIBIT 10: GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF CONCENTRATED MARKETS ...........................28
EXHIBIT 11: IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER-TV MERGERS IN ONE-PAPER CITIES .......................29
EXHIBIT 12: IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER-TV MERGERS IN TWO-PAPER CITIES.......................31
EXHIBIT 13: INCREASE IN HHI CAUSED BY LEADING PAPER-TV STATION MERGERS ........31
EXHIBIT 13: INCREASE IN HHI CAUSED BY LEADING PAPER-TV STATION MERGERS ........32
EXHIBIT 14: MOST CONCENTRATED NEWS MARKETS OPEN TO CROSS-OWNERSHIP
UNDER THE FCC DRAFT ORDER .........................................................................................33
EXHIBIT 15: IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER-TV MERGERS IN CITIES WITH THREE PAPERS
AND THREE OR FEWER TV STATIONS PROVIDING NEWS.....................................................35
EXHIBIT 16: MEDIA MARKET CATEGORIZATION FOR MERGER REVIEW ............................36
EXHIBIT 17: TOTAL MEDIA VOICES.....................................................................................39
EXHIBIT 18: TWO-PRONGED MARKET STANDARD FOR CROSS-OWNERSHIP .......................41
EXHIBIT 19: SIMPLE NEWS VOICE COUNT VS. MARKET-SHARE BASED, ADJUSTED
VOICE COUNT [(TV+NEWSPAPER)/.8] .................................................................................42
EXHIBIT 20: MARKET ELIGIBLE FOR CROSS-OWNERSHIP MERGERS..................................43
iiEXECUTIVE SUMMARY
COURTS SUPPORT PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARDS TO PROMOTE DIVERSITY IN MEDIA
MARKETS; THEY WANT COHERENT POLICY ANALYSIS
While the Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia has issued decisions
instructing the FCC to provide better justification for its rules, it has clearly stated that public
policies to promote a more diverse media landscape are constitutional, even if they reduce
economic efficiency. The notion that the courts have demanded that the FCC get rid of or
substantially relax media ownership rules is simply wrong. The fact that the Court of Appeals
has demanded a coherent analytic framework based on empirical facts does not necessarily
indicate a relaxation of the limits on ownership is warranted. To the contrary, the court
recognized that the limits could go be loosened or tightened.
In Fox v. FCC, for example, the court noted that “it is not unreasonable – and
therefore not unconstitutional – for the Congress to prefer having in the aggregate more
voices heard,” even though “an industry with a larger number of owner may well be less
efficient than a more concentrated industry.” In Sinclair v. FCC the court thoroughly rejected
Sinclair’s claim that its First Amendment rights had been harmed by the duopoly rule and
reminded the parties that the Supreme Court “saw nothing in the First Amendment to prevent
the Commission from allocating licenses so as to promote the ‘public interest’ in
diversification of the mass communications media.”
Yet, to the public’s great detriment, we find that the FCC is not doing the one thing the
court demanded – i.e. careful analysis of media markets keeping with longstanding principles
of economic analysis. For example, one of the most important media ownership rules, the
newspaper-broadcast cross-ownership prohibition, the FCC is:
? Looking at the wrong product (entertainment),
? Analyzing the wrong market (national news),
? Doing the market structure analysis incorrectly (not considering market shares), and
? Choosing a dangerously low standard.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly defined the public interest for electronic mass
media by expressing a bold aspiration for the First Amendment declaring the widest possible
dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the
welfare of the public.
APPLYING HIGH STANDARDS IN RIGOROUS MARKET STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
While the goal of promoting diversity under the Communications Act is broader than
the goal of protecting competition under the antitrust laws, the Merger Guidelines of the
Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission are a useful starting point for
analysis of media markets. For two decades the antitrust authorities have used these
1Guidelines – which are based on extensive theoretical and empirical evidence – to categorize
markets for purposes of merger analysis.
? A market with the equivalent of 10 or more equal-sized firms is defined as
unconcentrated.
? Markets with fewer than the equivalent of 10 but more than 6 equal-sized firms are
considered moderately concentrated.
? Markets with the fewer than 6 equal-sized firms are highly concentrated.
Concentrated markets like these “raise significant competitive concerns” for antitrust
authorities because they create market power that can be used to raise prices, reduce quality,
or retard innovation. Those charged with promoting the public interest under the
Communications Act should be more than concerned if media markets become this
concentrated because of the broader goals of First Amendment policy.
To the extent the Commission chooses to rely on the analysis of commercial media
markets, especially if different types of media are combined, caution is necessary and should
be expressed in the form of rigorous analysis and high standards. Public policy should err in
favor of more competition, which translates into greater diversity, to reflect the unique
importance and role of media in promoting the robust exchange of views on which democratic
dialogue and debate depends.
MEDIA MARKETS ARE ALREADY CONCENTRATED
The evidentiary record before the FCC shows that the mass media have not
experienced an Internet or broadband revolution. Most people still get their news and
information from TV and newspapers. Further, there is no simple common “currency” by
which TV viewing and newspaper reading can be measured. In other words, is a half hour of
TV worth an inch of newspaper space? Citizens do not easily substitute between these media,
making it even more difficult to compare them. Different media are used in different ways,
have different impacts, and play different roles in civic discourse. Rigorous analysis must
recognize the distinct product markets and the importance of newspapers and television.
Using the standard antitrust market definitions, we find that lax First Amendment
policy implementation and weak antitrust enforcement has resulted in American media
markets that are shockingly concentrated, especially in light of the bold aspiration for the First
Amendment.
? Every local television and newspaper market in the country is already concentrated.
? Every local newspaper market in the country is already highly concentrated.
? Over 95 percent of the TV and radio markets are highly concentrated.
? Local TV news markets are much more concentrated than entertainment markets.
2? Even adding together television and newspaper outlets, we find that virtually every
local market is concentrated.
? National markets for prime time entertainment programming are concentrated and
national TV news markets are highly concentrated.
The evidence provides strong support to those who feel the analysis of the media
under the First Amendment jurisdiction of the Communications Act cannot be reduced to
simple economic terms and that further relaxation of the rules on media ownership will lead to
much more concentrated markets and decreased diversity of news and information sources.
THE FCC PROPOSAL EFFECTIVELY REPEALS THE PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARD,
AFFORDING LESS PROTECTION FOR MEDIA MERGERS THAN THE ANTITRUST LAWS
Unfortunately, the proposed rules circulated by the Commission are driven by political
deals, not rigorous analysis or high standards.
? The Commission has failed to define the product market properly, ignoring the fact
that almost half of all broadcast stations do not provide news.
? It has ignored the local market, by counting stations and outlets that do little, if any
local news.
? It has failed to conduct proper market structure analysis, by failing to consider the
audience (markets shares) of the media outlets.
? The FCC has set a dangerously low standard for competition in local media markets
allowing the count of major media voices to decline as low as three or four in many
markets.
The result will be to allow markets to become extremely concentrated and the local
news markets to be dominated by one huge media giant. There is no chance for effective
competition between TV-newspaper combinations in as many as three-quarters of the markets
in which such mergers would be allowed because there is only one dominant newspaper.
Exhibits ES-1 and ES-2 graphically depict these markets.
? In one-paper cities, the local media giant would have a 90 percent share of the
newspaper circulation, one-third of the TV audience, and one-third of the radio
audience. No second entity could come close to matching this media power.
? In the typical two-paper town, the dominant firm would have four-fifth of newspaper
market, and one-third of the TV and radio markets. The second firm would have a
paper with only one-seventh of the circulation. In most of these markets, the TV
market is also highly concentrated.
3EXHIBIT ES-1: IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER-TV MERGERS IN ONE-PAPER CITIES
(Based on TV Entertainment HHI and Newspaper Circulation HHI)
Pre-Merger Market
Radio
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
Post-Merger Market
Radio
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
4EXHIBIT ES-2: IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER-TV MERGERS IN TWO-PAPER CITIES
(Based on TV Entertainment HHI and Newspaper Circulation HHI)
Pre-Merger Market
Radio #2 Paper
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
Post-Merger Market
Radio #2 Paper
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
5We believe that the FCC would inappropriately allow mergers in 140 of the top 150
markets. Of those 140 markets, approximately 90 are one or two newspaper towns.
Approximately 45 million households reside in these types of markets. In approximately 50
markets that have three or more papers, a merger between a newspaper and a TV station
would render the local news media market concentrated. Exhibit ES-3 characterizes the 150
largest markets in which the draft order would allow cross-ownership mergers. Almost one
half are one or two paper cities in which the TV news market is highly concentrated. One-
sixth are one or two paper markets in which the TV market is moderately concentrated. One-
quarter have three or more newspapers, but the TV market is highly concentrated. In only
one-fifteenth of these markets is the TV market not highly concentrated and the total local
news market unconcentrated.
The absurdity of the FCC’s approach is readily apparent when the mergers it would
allow are viewed in terms of the Merger Guidelines. Based on the record, we count
newspapers and TV stations as equal voices and set radios equal to one-tenth of the market.
In one-paper cities, the pre-merger market is highly concentrated and the merger
would raise the HHI by approximately 1200 points. The antitrust authorities believe mergers
that raise the HHI by merely 50 points in a market such as this “are likely to create or enhance
market power or facilitate its exercise.” The increase in concentration that would pass the
FCC’s scrutiny is over twenty times the level that triggers antitrust concerns.
Two-newspaper markets would be somewhat less concentrated, but the FCC would
still allow excessively high levels of concentration that would not support vigorous
competition. This pre-merger market would fall just below the highly concentrated threshold
and the merger would raise the HHI by over 900 points. This is over nine times the level that
triggers antitrust concerns.
A RESPONSIBLE APPROACH
We believe that a set of rules based on rigorous analysis of the current structure in
contemporary media, using careful geographic and product definitions and audience market
shares, that adopts a high standard is consistent with the record in this proceeding. It would
restrict merger activity to a small number of markets. Preventing the overall media market
from becoming concentrated and individual product markets from becoming highly
concentrated is a reasonably cautious standard.
? No mergers between TV stations and newspapers should allowed if the overall
media market in a locality is or would become concentrated as a result of the
merger.
? No mergers involving TV stations should be allowed if the TV market in a
locality is or would become highly concentrated as a result of the merger.
This approach would allow cross-ownership mergers in ten of the largest markets.
6EXHIBIT ES-3: CONCENTRATION OF TOP 150 MARKETS
100
Unconcentrated Local + Moderately Concentrated TV
90
80
Multiple Papers + Highly Concentrated TV
70
60
% of Markets
1 or 2 Papers + Moderately Concentrated TV
50
40
1 or 2 Papers + Highly Concentrated TV
30
20
10
0
7I. LEGAL AND ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK
THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTS LIMITS ON MEDIA OWNERSHIP
This paper presents the case for a rigorous, unified framework for media ownership
analysis under the Communications Act of 1934. It demonstrates that the current limits on
media ownership should not be substantially relaxed. It shows that, consistent with the
empirical record, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can adopt a rule based on
market structural analysis – which has a long history in the industrial organization literature –
that promotes the public interest by limiting mergers. Such a rule should build on economic
fundamentals but it must be driven by the First Amendment policy articulated by Congress
and endorsed by the courts for the electronic mass media.
The policy aspiration for the First Amendment is embodied in the principle that “the
widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is
essential to the welfare of the public.”1 The Supreme Court has repeatedly supported this
principle for more than half a century. Modern First Amendment jurisprudence has also
clearly recognized that “Freedom of the press from governmental interference under the First
Amendment does not sanction repression of that freedom by private interests.”2
The empirical evidence demonstrates that traditional mass media still dominate the
dissemination of news and information. Lax implementation of First Amendment policy and
weak enforcement of antitrust policy have allowed media markets to become concentrated.
Further relaxation of the limits on media ownership will allow more concentrated ownership
of media conglomerates to be consolidated in national chains and result in a severe loss of
diversity of news and information sources and local news content.
At a practical level, the paper answers each of the main questions raised in the court
cases and the omnibus media ownership proceeding initiated by the FCC.
For example, in the case of Sinclair v. Federal Communications Commission, the D.C.
Appeals Court held “that the Commission had failed to demonstrate that its exclusion of non-
broadcast media from the eight voices exception ‘is necessary in the public interest’.”3 Why
didn’t the FCC include newspapers and radios in its voice count for the rule that limited the
number of markets in which one owner could hold licenses to more than one TV station (the
duopoly rule)? The answer it could have given is now clear and supported overwhelmingly
by the empirical evidence in the record:
? TV is the dominant source of news and information, while radio, newspapers
and the Internet are not good substitutes for TV.
? These other products do not belong in a TV voice count analysis and TV
markets are already highly concentrated.
? The limits on TV mergers are well justified.
8Similarly, the question posed by the review of the newspaper broadcast cross-
ownership ban can be answered with a strong empirical statement. The Commission “seeks
comments on whether and to what extent we should revise our cross-ownership rule that bars
common ownership of a broadcast station and daily newspaper in the same market.”
? Newspapers are the second most important source of information and play a
unique watchdog role, providing in-depth and investigative reporting.
? All newspaper markets are highly concentrated and virtually all newspaper-
TV markets are already concentrated.
? Newspaper-TV combinations should not be allowed in all but a handful of
media markets because they would drive media concentration above already
unacceptably high levels and allow excessive control over the production of
news content in local media markets.
The empirical evidence on radio markets not only confirms that there is a problem, but
it underscores the point that antitrust authorities cannot be relied upon to prevent excessive
concentration in media markets.
? No additional radio mergers should be allowed because virtually every radio
market in the country is highly concentrated.
THE COURTS SUPPORT CONGRESSIONALLY MANDATED PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARDS TO
PROMOTE DIVERSITY IN MEDIA MARKETS; THEY WANT COHERENT POLICY ANALYSIS
The Fox and Sinclair Circuit Court decisions affirm First Amendment principles
Over the past two years the Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia has
issued decisions instructing the FCC to reexamine several of its rules governing structural
limitations on media ownership.4 The Appeals Court has been careful to point out that it is
not challenging the constitutional or even policy basis on which the rules rest; it is demanding
that the FCC give better justifications for its rules.
In fact, while the D.C. Appeals Court was stinging in its criticism of the FCC for not
doing its homework, it also chided media companies for ignoring the importance of non-
economic considerations in policies to promote civic discourse.5 It clearly stated that public
policies to promote a more diverse media landscape are constitutional, even if they reduce
economic efficiency.
An industry with a larger number of owners may well be less efficient than a
more concentrated industry. Both consumer satisfaction and potential
operating cost savings may be sacrificed as a result of the Rule. But that is not
to say the Rule is unreasonable because the Congress may, in the regulation of
broadcasting, constitutionally pursue values other than efficiency – including
in particular diversity in programming, for which diversity of ownership is
9perhaps an aspirational but surely not an irrational proxy. Simply put, it is not
unreasonable – and therefore not unconstitutional – for the Congress to prefer
having in the aggregate more voices heard, each in roughly one-third of the
nation, even if the number of voices heard in any given market remains the
same.6
In the Fox case, a rule that increases the number of voices in the nation without
increasing the number of voices in a local market can pass constitutional muster if it is
properly justified. Rules that are aimed at increasing local voices, as are many currently
under review by the FCC, stand on even firmer ground. In fact, in the Sinclair decision,
which dealt with local media markets, the Court went to considerable lengths to reject
Sinclair’s claim that it’s First Amendment rights had been harmed by the duopoly rule.
[B]ecause there is no unabridgeable First Amendment right comparable to the
right of every individual to speak, write or publish, to hold a broadcast license,
Sinclair does not have a First Amendment right to hold a broadcast license
where it would not, under the Local Ownership Order, satisfy the public
interest. In NCCB the Supreme Court upheld an ownership restriction
analogous to the Local Ownership Order, based on the same reasons of
diversity and competition, in recognition that such an ownership limitation
significantly furthers the First Amendment interest in a robust exchange of
viewpoints. The Court states in NCCB that it “saw nothing in the First
Amendment to prevent the Commission from allocating licenses so as to
promote the ‘public interest’ in diversification of the mass communications
media.7
The conclusion that broadcasters do not have “unabridgeable rights” in their licenses
is typically linked to a specific concept of scarcity that looks at citizens not simply as
listeners, but also as speakers. Thus, in Red Lion the court notes that
where there are substantially more individuals who want to broadcast than
there are frequencies to allocate, it is idle to posit an unabridgeable First
Amendment right to broadcast comparable to the right of every individual to
speak, write, or publish.8
While the number of networks and TV channels has certainly increased, the total
available comes nowhere close to the number of potential speakers. Thus the key
underpinning for the public interest policies to promote diversity of ownership, the scarcity of
the opportunity to speak with an electronic voice, persists.
Furthermore, the Court did not challenge the specific threshold the FCC had chosen,
noting in Sinclair that “We leave for another day any conclusion regarding the Commission’s
choice of eight” and adding that “[o]n remand the Commission conceivably may determine to
adjust not only the definition of ‘voices’ but also the numerical limit.”9
10The public interest is still the master of the biennial review standard
While some of the structural limits on media ownership are being reviewed at the
direction of the Appeals Court, others are being evaluated as part of a biennial review process
mandated by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 under the standard in section 202(h).10
There the FCC must “determine whether any of such rules are necessary in the public interest
as the result of competition. The Commission shall repeal or modify any regulation it
determines to be no longer in the public interest.”11
Simply put, the public interest still prevails in the 1996 Act.12 The Act does not
embrace competition for competition’s sake, nor did it change the definition of the public
interest when it comes to media ownership policy. The public interest is the master that
competition must serve; the FCC must find that competition is sufficient to promote the
public interest before it repeals or modifies these rules. It can certainly find that stronger rules
are necessary to promote competition – under the first prong of 202(h) – or the public interest
– under the second prong of 202(h).
Notwithstanding some concerns about preconceived notions,13 the court’s rulings and
the biennial review are the starting point for debate, not the end point. There is nothing in the
court ruling that would preclude the preservation or even strengthening of the rules if the
evidentiary record supports such action.
A HIGH STANDARD IS NECESSARY TO SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST
For reasons of both public policy and economic fundamentals, market structure
analysis, as the basis for determining merger policy and ownership limits in broadcast media
markets, requires a high threshold or standard for competition. Preventing the overall media
market from becoming concentrated and submarkets from becoming highly concentrated is a
reasonably cautious standard.
First Amendment policy is broader than antitrust
The goal of First Amendment policy under the Communications Act is broader than
the goal of competition under the antitrust laws. In merger review, the antitrust laws seek to
prevent the accumulation of market power while merger review under the Communications
Act seeks to promote the public interest,14 defined by the courts as the “ widest possible
dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources.”
In both cases, these standards are prophylactic, asking the authorities to make
predictive judgments about the effect of the merger and take actions to prevent negative
outcomes (in the case of antitrust) or ensure positive outcomes (in the case of the
Communications Act). Media mergers must pass both reviews because Congress and the
courts recognize that media and communications industries play a special dual role in society.
They are critical commercial activities and deeply affect civic discourse. They affect both
consumers and citizens.
11While economic competition is one way of promoting the public interest, the
Communications Act and the Courts identify several others. Under the Act, the needs of
citizens and democracy take precedence.
Economic analysis under the Merger Guidelines restricts mergers
Antitrust authorities have adopted guidelines that indicate when mergers are likely to
be challenged. The Guidelines consider the state of competition and the extent to which
concentration of a market would increase as a result of a merger. They use market shares to
create an index known as the HHI, which describes the level of concentration in a market.15
They define highly concentrated markets as markets with an HHI of 1800. This is the
equivalent of fewer than (roughly) six equal-sized competitors.16 They define unconcentrated
markets as markets with an HHI of 1000, which is the equivalent of ten or more equal-sized
competitors. Moderately concentrated markets have the equivalent of between 6 and 10
equal-sized competitors.
The guidelines identify the types of mergers that will raise competitive concerns as
follows:
Mergers producing an increase in the HHI of more than 100 points in
moderately concentrated markets post-merger potentially raise significant
competitive concerns… Mergers producing an increase in the HHI of more
than 50 points in highly concentrated markets post-merger potentially raise
significant competitive concerns.17
To appreciate the nature of these thresholds, a firm with a 15 percent market share that
sought to buy another with a two percent market share would violate the 50-point threshold.
If the firm being acquired had a market share of just over three percent, it would violate the
100-point threshold.
The competitive concern for antitrust authorities is the potential for the exercise of
market power. The Guidelines define market power as “the ability profitably to maintain
prices above competitive levels for a significant period of time” or to “lessen competition on
dimensions other than price, such as product quality, service or innovation.”18 While
concerns exist in all concentrated markets, the Guidelines note that in highly concentrated
markets, mergers “are likely to create or enhance market power or facilitate its exercise.”
Although the antitrust authorities frequently allow mergers to go forward after
considering other factors, we believe that for media markets these should be firm thresholds.
The Sinclair decision notes that in 1995 the Commission had already argued “the merger
guidelines of the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission might be too low as
their purpose lay in defining the point at which antitrust scrutiny is required, and not in
encouraging a wide array of voices and viewpoints.”19 Whereas antitrust authorities become
concerned about these levels of concentration, Communications Act authorities should
become alarmed about concentrated markets like these because of the broader goals of First
Amendment policy.
12PROMOTING THE PUBLIC INTEREST THROUGH UNCONCENTRATED MEDIA MARKETS
Local Media Markets Should not be Concentrated
The evidentiary record makes it clear that the Commission must proceed cautiously in
relaxing limits on media ownership. It shows that the mass media have not experienced an
Internet or broadband revolution. The dominant sources of information are still TV and
newspapers. Further, there is no simple common “currency” by which TV viewing and
newspaper reading can be measured. Different media are used in different ways, have
different impacts, and play different roles in civic discourse. The evidence provides strong
support to those who feel the analysis of the media under the First Amendment jurisdiction of
the Communications Act cannot be reduced to simple economic terms and that the rules
should not be relaxed.
At the same time, the record sends a strong warning to those who would rely on
economic analysis, especially if different types of media are combined, that great caution is
necessary and should be expressed in the form of rigorous market analysis and high
competitive standards. Public policy should err in favor of more owners, which translates to
greater diversity, to reflect the unique importance and role of media in civic discourse.
Based upon the above legal framework and observations, we propose a two pronged
market structure standard that builds on economic fundamentals but is driven by First
Amendment jurisprudence. Preventing the overall media market from becoming
concentrated and broadcast markets from becoming highly concentrated is a reasonably
cautious standard.
The Federal Communications Commission should not tolerate or encourage
concentrated media markets. The standard definition of unconcentrated markets, well
grounded in economic theory and practice, is a market with the equivalent of ten or more
equal-sized producers. Civic discourse demands even more vigilance.
The Commission must approach the market structure analysis in a rigorous manner
that reflects the current empirical reality of media markets. Since the Merger Guidelines have
been a part of market structure policy for two decades, these simple rules are transparent. The
data needed to categorize media markets are available.
Furthermore, as a matter of economic fundamentals, caution is called for. Media
markets are difficult to define and most data available is limited to very large markets. Using
concepts like the Designated Market Area (DMA) for TV or the Arbitron rating area for radio,
creates market areas that are generally larger than and certainly do not fit precisely with each
other, or with newspaper markets. Including the Internet and cable in the local market
definition, when the FCC’s own expert declared these to be national, not local, media, further
confounds market analysis.
Given these difficulties in product and geographic market definitions, the FCC should
be extremely cautious about thresholds. By combining products that are not good substitutes
13and do not compete head-to-head in the market we are likely to overestimate the extent of
actual competition. Therefore, based on strict economic grounds we should be cautious in the
thresholds.
Thus, a rule that takes unconcentrated local markets as the minimum standard is
justified in both the antitrust and First Amendment contexts.
Broadcast Markets Should Not Be Highly Concentrated or The Source of Excessive
Leverage Across Sub-Markets
Many TV markets are highly concentrated because they have never had a large
number of stations, even though frequencies are available. For these, unconcentrated markets
are a goal, but the existence of such markets does not mean that where markets are not
concentrated we should abandon that goal or allow mergers to frustrate it. At a minimum,
FCC policy should encourage or allow individual TV broadcast product markets to become
highly concentrated.
Excessive market concentration in electronic media cannot be compensated for by
cross media competition. Each product market should be no worse than moderately
concentrated. The FCC should not allow horizontal mergers in properly defined TV media
markets that are highly concentrated, post-merger. That is, if the merger proposed is in a
market that is highly concentrated or would result in a market that is highly concentrated it
should not be allowed.
TV broadcast should not be a source of excessive leverage in the overall media
market. The FCC should not allow dominant firms in highly concentrated broadcast markets
to merge. The FCC should have a waiver policy to allow horizontal mergers in properly
defined media markets that are moderately concentrated (post-merger). The merging parties
should be required to show that the merger would promote the public interest. The FCC
should require the preservation of functionally separate news and editorial departments in the
subsidiaries of the merged entity.
14III. RIGOROUS ANALYSIS OF MEDIA MARKETS
MARKET STRUCTURE ANALYSIS MUST RECOGNIZE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEDIA IN
FUNCTION, REACH, IMPACT AND AUDIENCE
The empirical record does not support the conclusion that the various media products
(broadcast video, cable TV, newspaper, radio, Internet) are substitutes. On the contrary, the
overwhelming evidence indicates that they are complements. Allowing mergers between
them may undermine the ability of each media type to fill the distinct needs that it addresses.
Therefore, the Commission must proceed with great caution if it combines media for purposes
of market structure analysis. Market structure analysis should recognize the function, reach,
and impact of different media products.
Market structure analysis must start with the audience that each of the media outlets
has. Just as market power is grounded in the size of the market an individual firm gains, so
too media influence and impact, the ability to be heard, is a function of the audience. It is
absurd to ignore the audience of a media outlet in assessing its influence and impact on civic
discourse, as it would be absurd to ignore the market share of a firm in assessing its economic
market power.
TELEVISION AND NEWSPAPERS SHOULD BE THE FOCAL POINT OF ANALYSIS
Television and newspapers dominate the news media market (see Exhibits 1 and 2).
Television provides the announcement function. Newspapers provide in-depth coverage.
Other sources of news are dwarfed by the two dominant sources. Approximately 80 percent
of respondents say they get most of their news and information from TV or newspapers. The
percentage of local news is similar, with newspapers playing a role closer to TV. That
percentage has been stable since the advent of the Internet. It is even higher for election
information. Clearly, market analysis must focus on TV and newspapers. The number of
voices could be adjusted to take account of the lesser voices available on radio, the Internet,
and other sources.
THE ANALYSIS OF NEWS AND INFORMATION, AS OPPOSED TO ENTERTAINMENT OR AD
MARKETS, SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY BASIS OF MARKET STRUCTURE ANALYSIS.
Much of the FCC’s previous analysis has focused on entertainment and advertising
markets. The evidence before the Commission now shows that news and information is a
distinct product market. Many broadcast stations do not provide news whatsoever. Radio has
all but abandoned news (see Exhibit 3). As a consequence, news media markets are much
more concentrated than broadcast and video TV markets.
15EXHIBIT 1: TV AND NEWSPAPERS ARE THE PUBLIC’S MOST IMPORTANT SOURCE OF ALL
NEWS
OTHER*
INTERNET
4%
6%
RADIO
10%
TV
NEWSPAPER 57%
23%
SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, Study 8, Consumer Survey on Media Usage, prepared by Nielsen Media
Research, September 2002, Question 10.
16EXHIBIT 2: TV AND NEWSPAPERS DOMINATE AS LOCAL NEWS SOURCES
INTERNET
9%
RADIO
17% TV
43%
NEWSPAPER
31%
SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, Study 8, Consumer Survey on Media Usage, prepared by Nielsen Media
Research, September 2002, Question 1. Multiple responses allowed, percentage of total responses.
17EXHIBIT 3: COMPARING NEWS CAPABILITIES: NEWSPAPERS PRODUCE THE BULK OF LOCAL
NEWS
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
NEWSPAPER TV RADIO
% OF OUTLETS DOING NEWS NUMBER OF NEWSROOM STAFF
SOURCES: Vernon Stone, News Operations at U.S. Radio Stations, News Operations at TV Stations; U.S. Bureau of the Census,
Statistical Abstract of The United States: 2000 Tables 2, 37, 932; Lisa George, What’s Fit To Print: The Effect Of Ownership
Concentration On Product Variety In Daily Newspaper Markets (2001); Editor And Publisher, International Yearbook, Various
Issues.
18Newspapers dominate the production of local news content. They are devoted to news,
whereas most other media are primarily devoted to entertainment. Newspapers also have large
staffs. As Downie and Kaiser point out
Television, like radio, is a relatively inefficient conveyor of information. The text
of Cronkite’s evening news, after eliminating the commercials, would fill just
over half the front page of a full-sized newspaper. A typical network evening
news show now mentions just over fifteen or so different subjects, some in a
sentence, whereas a good newspaper has scores of different news items every day.
A big story on television might get two minutes, or about 400 words. The Los
Angeles Times coverage of the same big story could easily total 2,000 words.20
The Commission should examine the difference between entertainment HHIs and news
HHIs. News markets are much more concentrated than entertainment markets. National
aggregate data suggests that TV news markets are twice as concentrated as TV entertainment
markets.
CABLE, SATELLITE AND THE INTERNET PROVIDE LITTLE, IF ANY, LOCAL NEWS AND
INFORMATION
The Commission has considered cable TV as a single additional voice. However, the
data before the commission shows that cable is not an independent source of local news and
information. At present, satellite provides no independent local news or information. Indeed, it
is struggling just to make all local stations available. It is most interesting to note in this context
that the Commission’s task force study on media substitutability assumed that cable and the
Internet are national, not local, sources of news.
Cable plays only a small role as a source of local news and information. Only eleven
percent of those who rely on cable cite a local cable channel (see Exhibit 4). Few cable
operators provide news, and when they do, it frequently replicates one of the broadcast networks.
The Internet’s role as an independent source of news is even smaller. The web sites of
the dominant TV outlets and newspapers dominate as sources on the Internet (see Exhibit 5).
Even the 6 percent of respondents who say it is their primary source of news are more likely to
say they use the web sites of major TV networks or newspapers than other sites. The Internet
should not be counted as an additional local voice.
19EXHIBIT 4: FEW CABLE VIEWERS GET THEIR LOCAL NEWS FROM LOCAL CABLE CHANNELS
LOCAL CABLE NEWS
10%
MS/CNBC
11%
CNN
FOX 55%
24%
SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, Study 8, Consumer Survey on Media Usage, prepared by Nielsen Media
Research, September 2002, Question 7. Multiple responses allowed, percentage of total responses.
20EXHIBIT 5: MOST INTERNET USERS VISIT WEB SITES OF THE MAJOR TV NEWS OUTLETS AND
NEWSPAPERS
OTHER
26%
TV AFFILIATED
53%
INDEPENDENT
PORTAL
14% NEWSPAPER
7%
SOURCE: Federal Communications Commission, Study 8, Consumer Survey on Media Usage, prepared by Nielsen Media
Research, September 2002, Question 9. Multiple responses allowed, percentage of total responses.
21MEDIA MARKETS ARE ALREADY CONCENTRATED
Applying the above methods to the analysis of media markets, we find that they are
concentrated at present. Exhibits 6 thru 8 show the level of concentration in each specific
media product in local media markets using the standard market definition and analytic
approach applied by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission. We find
that every television and newspaper market in the country is already concentrated. In fact,
every newspaper market in the country is already highly concentrated, as are over 95 percent
of the TV and radio markets. We use television markets as the geographic basis for defining
markets because television is the primary news source.
While most of the rules apply to local markets, the national broadcast cap applies to a
national market. The national TV market greatly affects the ability of program developers to
gain access to a sufficient market to launch programs or channels. For example, one of the
FCC studies examined the owners of programming aired in the national prime time market.
Exhibit 9 shows three important indicators of concentration in national programming markets,
network prime time producers, total prime time viewing and news programming. The prime
time market is concentrated and the news market is highly concentrated.
IV. PROPOSED FCC RULES HAVE NO ANALYTIC OR LEGAL BASIS
FLAWS IN THE FCC RULES
According to press accounts, the FCC appears to be headed in a very different
direction than the above approach. The analytic framework adopted by the FCC is not
rigorous. It is apparently based on a simple voice count of all TV stations. Thus, it addresses
neither the product market in question, nor the market shares. To make matters worse, the
simple TV voice count appears to include PBS stations, although few do local news and all
have a very small market share.
Furthermore, the FCC has failed to set a high standard for the most important rule –
TV/newspaper cross-ownership. It will apparently allow the count of independent
newspapers and TV stations to decline to as low as four. That is, it will allow a TV station to
buy a newspaper in a market where there are only a total of four TV stations.
In short, the FCC is
? looking at the wrong product (entertainment),
? analyzing the wrong market (national news),
? doing the market structure analysis incorrectly (not considering market shares), and
? choosing a dangerously low standard.
22EXHIBIT 6: BROADCAST TV VOICE COUNT
12.00
UNCO
MAR
10.00
(Based on Market Share)
8.00
TV VOICES
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
91
101
111
121
131
141
151
161
171
181
191
201
1
TV MARKETS
(Ranked by Size, 1= LARGEST)
SOURCE: BIA Financial, Television Market Report: 2000. Year 2000 broadcast TV viewing data for all 211 DMAs.EXHIBIT 7: NEWSPAPER VOICE COUNT
12.00
UNCO
MAR
10.00
(Based on Market Share)
NEWSPAPER VOICES
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
1
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
91
101
111
121
131
141
151
161
171
181
191
201
TV MARKETS
(Ranked by Size, 1= LARGEST)
SOURCE: Market profiles from Editor and Publisher and Media Week, various issues; “Initial Comments of the NAA,” and Initial Comments of He
“Selected Media “Voices” by Designated Market Areas,” In the Matter of Cross-Ownership of Broadcast Stations and Newspapers; Newspaper
Waiver Policy: Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, MM Docket No. 01-235, 96-197, Table 3. Year 2000 newspaper circulation for 68 mark
estimated by regression of DMA size.EXHIBIT 8: RADIO VOICE COUNT
12
UNCO
MAR
10
(Based on Market Share)
MOD
CONC
RADIO VOICES
8 MAR
6
HIGH
CON
MAR
4
2
0
101
111
121
131
141
151
161
171
181
191
201
11
21
31
41
51
61
71
81
91
1
TV MARKETS
(Ranked by Size, 1= LARGEST)
SOURCE: Keith Brown and George Williams, Consolidation and Advertising Prices in Local Radio Markets (Federal Communications Commissio
Research Paper, September 2002). HHIs based on top 4 firms only, assuming firms 3 and 4 have equal shares.EXHIBIT 9: CONCENTRATION OF NATIONAL PROGRAMMING MARKETS
3500
3000
2500
HHI VALUE
2000
1500
1000
500
0
NETWORK PRIME TOTAL PRIME TIME NEWS
TIME PRODUCERS VIEWING PROGRAMMING
TYPE OF PROGRAMMING
Source: Mara Epstein, Program Diversity and the Program Selection Process on Broadcast Network Television
Communications Commission, Media Ownership Working Group, September 2002); “Comments of Sinclair B
Exhibit 15; Bill Carter, “Nightly News Feels Pinch of 23-Hour News” New York Times, April 14, 2003, p. CThe result will be to allow markets to become extremely concentrated.
The FCC’s analysis also appears to be applying logically inconsistent approaches
across media markets, an analytic flaw that was particularly offensive to the D.C. Circuit.
? UHF stations appear to be counted as one-half for the purposes of the national cap, but
a full station for purposes of the cross-ownership and the duopoly rule. This
inconsistent treatment biases the rules toward greater concentration and less diversity.
? Similarly, the FCC recognizes the importance of major TV voices by banning a
duopoly merger between two TV stations ranked in the top four in any market.
However, the FCC does not recognize the importance of newspapers for broadcast
newspaper cross-ownership. It fails to impose a similar restriction on a top four TV
station combining by a newspaper.
THE FCC PROPOSAL GUTS THE PUBLIC INTEREST STANDARD FOR MEDIA OWNERSHIP
UNDER THE COMMUNICATIONS ACT.
The impact on media market structure will be devastating. The FCC approach would
allow newspaper-TV combinations in 150 markets. These markets cover approximately 90
percent of the total population. The media market structure in many of these localities would
become greatly distorted because of a lack of competition.
We believe that the FCC has misclassified at least 140 of these markets and would
incorrectly allow mergers. These 140 markets cover approximately 70 percent of the
population in the nation.
Of the 140 misclassified markets, 36 are one-newspaper towns. That is, the second
newspaper has a market share of less than five percent. Another 55 are two newspaper towns.
Thus approximately two-thirds of these markets would have one or two newspaper-TV
combinations.
Moreover, even in multiple newspaper towns, most newspaper markets are dominated
by a single paper. We have data on 17 of the 55 two paper towns in which the FCC would
inappropriately allow mergers. This sample of markets is representative of all two-paper
towns, with an average DMA ranking of 38 compared to 39 for all two-paper cities. We find
that the number one newspaper has a market share of 80 percent compared to 15 percent for
the number two newspaper.
This very lax rule holds the prospect of having many markets dominated by a single
newspaper-TV combination, with few TV stations and no prospect of an equal combination
being formed in the market. Exhibit 10 presents a graphic representation of moderately
concentrated and highly concentrated markets as a point of reference. Exhibit 11 presents a
graphic picture of the impact that this lax rule would have on single paper markets.
27EXHIBIT 10: GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF CONCENTRATED MARKETS
Moderately Concentrated Market (Nine Equal Sized Competitors)
Firm 9 Firm 1
Firm 8 Firm 2
Firm 7 Firm 3
Firm 6 Firm 4
Firm 5
Highly Concentrated Market (Five Equal Sized Competitors)
Firm 5 Firm 1
Firm 4 Firm 2
Firm 3
28EXHIBIT 11: IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER-TV MERGERS IN ONE-PAPER CITIES
(Based on TV Entertainment HHI and Newspaper Circulation HHI)
Pre-Merger Market
Radio
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
Post-Merger Market
Radio
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
29In a typical one-paper city, the local media giant would have a 90 percent share of the
newspaper circulation, one-third of the TV audience, and one-third of the radio audience. No
second entity could come close to matching this media power. The 36 markets include just
under 20 million households, or one-fifth of the country. There are some very large cities on
the list, like Atlanta, Baltimore and New Orleans, as well as small cities.
Applying the framework developed above (treating newspapers and TV as equal
sources, and weighting radio at 10 percent of the total market). The FCC would approve
mergers that fracture the Merger Guidelines. In one-paper cities, the pre-merger market is
highly concentrated and the merger would raise the HHI by approximately 1100 points.
Recall that the antitrust authorities believe mergers that raise the HHI by 50 points in a market
such as this “are likely to create or enhance market power or facilitate its exercise.” One
entity would thoroughly dominate the media landscape in these markets, accounting for over
one-half of the local market. The increase in concentration is over twenty times the level that
triggers antitrust concerns.
Two-newspaper markets would be somewhat less concentrated, but the FCC would
still allow excessively high levels of concentration that would not support vigorous
competition (see Exhibit 12). In the typical two-paper town, the dominant firm would have
two-thirds of newspaper market, and one-third of the TV and radio markets. The second firm
would be a paper with only one-fifth of the circulation. These cities include approximately 25
million households, or about one-quarter of the national population.
This pre-merger market would fall in the just below the highly concentrated threshold.
The merger would raise the HHI by about 1000 points. This is over nine times the level that
triggers antitrust concerns.
The problems that these mergers pose are obviously not close calls, but the difficulty
runs deeper (see Exhibit 13). Even if the number 2 TV stations in either of these types of
markets were, which typically has a market share of 24 percent, were to combine with the
dominant newspaper, the increase in concentration would far exceed the threshold that
triggers concern. In fact, even if the fourth largest station, which typically has a market share
of 10 percent, were to combine with the leading newspaper, the resulting increase in
concentration far exceeds the antitrust threshold. This supports the observation that it is
inconsistent to preclude mergers between the top four TV outlets under the duopoly rule but
not between top four TV stations and newspaper for the cross ownership rule.
Exhibit 14 characterizes the 150 largest markets in which the draft order would allow
cross-ownership mergers. Almost one half are one or two paper cities in which the TV news
market is highly concentrated. One-sixth are one or two paper markets in which the TV
market is moderately concentrated. One-quarter has three or more newspapers, but the TV
market is highly concentrated. In only one-fifteenth of these markets is the TV market not
highly concentrated and the total local news market unconcentrated.
30EXHIBIT 12: IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER-TV MERGERS IN TWO-PAPER CITIES
(Based on TV Entertainment HHI and Newspaper Circulation HHI)
Pre-Merger Market
Radio #2 Paper
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
Post-Merger Market
Radio #2 Paper
PBS
#4 TV
#3 TV
#1 Paper
#2 TV
#1TV
31EXHIBIT 13: INCREASE IN HHI CAUSED BY LEADING PAPER-TV STATION MERGERS
(Based on TV Entertainment HHI and Newspaper Circulation HHI)
LEADING PAPER
_________________________________________
ONE-PAPER CITY TWO-PAPER CITY
(90% Circulation Share) (80% Circulation Share)
TV STATION
____________________
RANK MARKET
SHARE
1 30 1115 1000
2 24 821 723
4 10 290 252
Merger
Guideline na 50 100
Threshold
32EXHIBIT 14: MOST CONCENTRATED NEWS MARKETS FOR TO CROSS-OWNERSHIP UNDER
THE FCC DRAFT ORDER
One or Two Paper Markets Where TV News Market is Highly Concentrated
Albany, GA Lincoln-Hastings-Kearney, NE
Amarillo, TX Little Rock-Pine Bluff, AR
Atlanta, GA Louisville, KY
Augusta, GA Macon, GA
Austin, TX Monroe, LA-El Dorado, AR
Baton Rouge, LA Montgomery, AL
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX Nashville, TN
Bluefield-Beckley-Oak Hill, WV New Orleans, LA
Boise, ID Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, VA
Buffalo, NY Omaha, NE
Charleston, SC Pittsburgh, PA
Chattanooga, TN Portland-Auburn, ME
Chico-Redding, CA Reno, NV
Colorado Springs-Pueblo, CO Richmond-Petersburg, VA
Columbus, GA Roanoke-Lynchburg, VA
Columbus, OH Rochester, NY
Columbus-Tupelo-West Point, MS Rockford, IL
Dayton, OH Savannah, GA
Des Moines-Ames, IA Shreveport, LA
Duluth, MN-Superior, WI Sioux City, IA
Evansville, IN Springfield, MO
Fargo-Valley City, ND St. Louis, MO
Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, MI Syracuse, NY
Ft. Smith-Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR Tallahassee, FL-Thomasville, GA
Green Bay-Appleton, WI Terre Haute, IN
Greenville-New Bern-Washington, NC Toledo, OH
Harlingen-Weslaco-McAllen-Brownsville, TX Traverse City-Cadillac, MI
Jackson, MS Tucson, AZ
Joplin, MO-Pittsburg, KS Tyler-Longview, TX
Knoxville, TN Wausau-Rhinelander, WI
La Crosse-Eau Claire, WI West Palm Beach-Ft. Pierce, FL
Lafayette, LA Wheeling, WV-Steubenville, OH
Lansing, MI Wichita-Hutchinson, KS
Wilmington, NC
33Of the 91 one and two paper markets, 71 would have six or fewer news voices before
a cross ownership merger. In those markets, newspapers already can be considered dominant
or leading firms. Thus the FCC is allowing mergers involving dominant firms in highly
concentrated markets.
Moreover, there are many other combinations that should be a source of concern. In
one-third of the three newspaper cities, there are very few TV stations. These markets would
become very tight oligopolies (see Exhibit 15). These markets represent almost another 3
million households.
In the broader perspective, the FCC approach would allow mergers in a total of 79
markets that have six or fewer major media firms. Of the 140 markets inappropriately opened
to mergers, over 100 have either six or fewer major local news voices or two or fewer
newspapers.
While the discussion of individual market situation shows the problem, it can be
complex. We believe that a systematic approach to market structure analysis and a rule based
on a high competitive standard is called for. The next section outlines such an approach.
V. A RESPONSIBLE APPROACH TO OWNERSHIP LIMITS
It is clear that the FCC’s proposed rules are extremely. We believe the record
supports a principled approach to market structure analysis and a much higher standard. The
high standards described above for merger policy under the Communications Act can be
summarized in two principles.
? No mergers between TV stations and newspapers should be allowed if the
overall media market in a locality is or would become concentrated as a result
of the merger.
? No mergers involving TV stations should be allowed if the TV market in a
locality is or would become highly concentrated as a result of the merger.
Exhibit 16 demonstrates how markets would be categorized for First Amendment
ownership limits. Implementing the principles requires care.
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